BERTHOUD, Colo. – The first two days at the TPC Colorado Collegiate set the groundwork for another top-five finish by the Tarleton Men's Golf team.
 
The Texans used a strong collective group effort Monday-Tuesday to help them finish fifth in Berthoud, Colorado, on Wednesday at +25 (889), playing at TPC Colorado. Tarleton entered the final round in fourth at +8.
 
"It wasn't the final round we were hoping for, but it wasn't a terrible week at the same time," head coach Chance Cain said. "Our performance was right in-between the UAB and Oregon State hosted tournaments, so we're still moving in the right direction, but we need to put in some work before we head out to Baylor on Oct. 31. We were tied-third in birdies this week, but we just made too many mistakes to capitalize on those."
 
Max Bengtsson paced the purple and white for the second straight tournament, shooting +4 (74-70-76) to take tied-16th. Cristobal Sepulveda (74-75-74) and Jack Anderson (74-70-79) each shot +7 to finish tied-28th. Masen Ward went +11 (77-74-76) to take tied-42nd, and Bladen Samaniego turned in at +12 (73-75-80) to go tied-46th.
 
"It's good to see Max starting to come into his own with another top-20 finish, with Jack and Cristobal close behind at T-28," Cain said. "We've got a good group of guys and I'm optimistic we can keep improving each event."
 
After the first round, four Texans were within a stroke of each other at either +1 or +2, all finding themselves in the top-20. Samaniego led the team with his best round score to par of the year, going -1 over his final 11 holes to shoot +1.
 
Bengtsson and Anderson each excelled in Round 2 with a pair of -2 (70) rounds. Bengtsson had a back nine score of 34 with three birdies to finish his 18, while Anderson made seven birdies in the single round.
 
In Round 3, Sepulveda led the way at +2, starting off with two birdies in his first three holes, part of his front nine -1 (35).
 
As a team, Tarleton had its best showing on Par 5's, going -4 overall with an average score of 4.93, the third best such score in the tournament. Ward boosted them there with a team-best -3 showing. Ward also had the most birdies on the team at 13, helping Tarleton make the tied-third most at 52. The Texans tied the amount of birdies as the winning team, Colorado State. The Rams' Connor Jones was the medalist at -9 (70-66-71).
 
Tarleton has one more scheduled event this fall, a one-day Halloween special at Baylor's Bear Brawl in Waco, Texas, at Ridgewood Country Club.